Itachi's Daughter
by Angle of Anime
Summary: Orochimaru takes Itachi and combines his DNA with lots of others and produces a baby girl, which Itachi gives up. Later, the baby, now eleven, decides to search for her father after her guardian dies. Sasuke is her only known link, and her 'dreams.'
1. Prologue

Itachi's Daughter

_Angel of Anime_

**Prologue:**

_Itachi was taken by Orochimaru when he was a child for experimenting, a year or so before Sasuke was born. Orochimaru took some of his DNA and mixed it with many other random DNA. Uncountable animals, numerous plants, snakes, and the like was what he combined. He had nothing in mind to create; it was just mad science. A little while later, Orochimaru took him again briefly to tell him about the experiment he'd done with his genetic material. A baby girl was produced. Since he had no use for it, Orochimaru asked Itachi what he wanted to be done with it. Deciding to give it up, Itachi left it on the doorstep of an old Mrs. Hashikawa, who he'd found was kind and caring, and would not disown the child._

Natsuki was an orphaned child, raised by an old woman named Kaori Hashikawa. One day when the girl was just a few days old, Kaori found her on the doorstep with a note that pleaded her to take care of the infant. And so she did. Eleven and a half years later, the child had grown into a wonderful ninja with a strong attitude and great intelligence. But by this time, Kaori, eighty-eight years old, had been ill for some time. She died almost immediately after Natsuki returned from a mission, as if she were hanging on until just that time, leaving her with these final words:

"Look inside the cabinet behind the place the kettle is kept." One would think that the words would be something more important or intimate, something like, 'I'll always be with you in your heart,' but little did Natsuki know, that single sentence would change her entire life.

Puzzled, the girl did just as her guardian told her after the funeral, and found a small box behind the kettle. Wondering what could be so important about it, the dark-headed kunoichi opened it, feeling its contents. There were papers, only two of them, along with an envelope that sheltered an object. She pulled out the first sheet and brushed her fingers over each passing word. It read:

_Hashikawa-sama,_

_Take care of my daughter, for I am not able. Please make sure she is healthy and well-fed, and keep her safe. You appeared to be a kind person, and that's why I am asking you this._

_Also, I have one more request. Please be sure that she doesn't get a hold of the contents inside this box until you believe she is ready for the truth of her life ---._

Natsuki gasped at that, but didn't allow herself to be phased yet. She read on:

_--- Because if she isn't and she tries looking for me, it'll be a failed attempt._

_---_

That was it. There was no signature, no name that could give her a clue as to who had written this. She guessed it was her father, given that the writer would've had large hand, or was used to holding heavy objects. It was easy to tell because of how hard the ink had been pressed onto the paper.

After finishing that, Natsuki found her birth certificate, which didn't even seem like a real one at all, just something to show that she existed.

**Certificate of Birth**

Name: Kimi Uchiha

Birth Father: Unspecified

Birth Mother: Unspecified

Birth Date: July 17

Place of Birth: Sound Village

Disappointed to find that it hadn't mentioned even surnames of her mother or father, Natsuki also speculated why the person that made certificate had done that. Her name was Uchiha, though, Kimi Uchiha. That was a start. Also, the girl noted, in the first note the writer wrote 'I' instead of 'we.' It would make more sense for 'we' to be written, so that piece let her mind explore around the fact that her parents were not together.

Quickly forgetting that, Natsuki remembered something she heard from one of the villagers. Two women were gossiping and they'd mentioned something about the Uchiha clan, a massacre, she heard. This was four or five years ago, so the details were vague to her. All that stuck to the girl's mind were the words, 'one survivor' and 'Itachi Uchiha.' Itachi was the one that killed the clan, so who was the survivor? At the time the natter wasn't any bit significant, so she hadn't hung around the two to listen. Oh, how she wished now that she'd stayed to hear the rest of the story. By now it was probably old news, but there was one bit of information she knew that could get her started. The Uchiha clan was in Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village. All she had to do was get permission to leave the Grass Village for good, and permission to go into Konoha; the works. No matter what, Natsuki was going to find out who she was.

After she'd decided that she would go to that village in search of the boy who survived the massacre, she thought of the envelope and pulled it out of the box. The object inside was cold, she felt, like a chain. And there was something dangling in the center of the long, thin item. It was a necklace; the chain was silver and the pendant was a circle at the top and then a rectangular shape came down at the bottom. It was the Uchiha's symbol, the fan, red and white. This confirmed it, definitely. Natsuki was an Uchiha. She set out the next day.

* * *

A/n: Well, I hope the prologue is okay. Not too boring, anyway. I'll be sort of skipping around a lot, so if you missed any episodes, you might not get it. I'm using the manga as a reference for most of this story. Um, chapters are longer than the prologue. Also, the story might be boring at first, so, yeah. I think it'll be more interesting during the Chuunin Exams and after. For that I'll seriously be modifying the story, but the main stuff, the significant parts, won't be changed too much. Exams come in at chapter three. Well, thanks!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_, only Natsuki/Kimi._


	2. Chapter 1

A/n: Hopefully this chapter isn't too dull, it gets way better during the Chuunin Exams. I don't have much else to say except what was said in the previous chapter, the prologue. Thanks for reading! Please review; constructive criticism welcome. Thank you.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!**

* * *

**Chapter One:**

The trip was a tremendously long one, especially since Natsuki walked at a slow pace with the luggage she had; until, that is, a man in his mid-forties with broad shoulders and a mustache was kind enough to offer her and Tomodachi, her dog, a ride. The two didn't make much of a conversation during the two days they rode together. All she knew about him was that he was a travelling merchant who went from village to village to buy and sell things of prominent value. He didn't know anything about her except that she liked to read. That's all that Natsuki was doing when he saw her, reading or sleeping.

It was on the third day that he let her go, as he was heading in a different direction than she; thanking him, she made the last day's walk steadily. No more rocks under the wheels, throwing her off her place in the book she was reading; not that she wasn't grateful for the ride, of course. It sped up her journey, would probably would have been eight to ten days instead of half that.

At dusk the small wagon which she'd bought from the merchant for a reasonable price squeaked. The weight of her small puppy, three suitcases and eight trunks, plus the diminutive box which held some of her identity was getting to be too much for the thirty-five pound wooden cart. _Well,_ thought Natsuki, _at least it's now that it's choosing to break. I've reached Konoha, and on good timing. The sun is setting._

As she began to walk passed two men, guards she deciphered, she was ordered to halt. When she looked at them, asking, "What?" in a weary voice, one of them wanted to know if she had permission to come into the place. Without a word, Natsuki flicked out her laminated card with a cheerful grin; her permission. The men nodded in approval and she made her way to find an inn before the darkness of the night settled in completely.

When she went to turn a corner, Natsuki's senses kicked in suddenly and she spun around. It would've been okay, if her hand hadn't still been gripping the handle of the wagon. Her luggage tipped over and five of eight trunks which contained her books opened, scattering them all over the dusty ground.

A boy her age perhaps was standing there; looking at the mess he'd taken part in causing. His face showed he didn't care; he didn't even apologize, but an apology wasn't what Natsuki really expected, or even wanted, really. She began to lift the large steel cases back onto her wagon, demanding of the boy, "These are kind of heavy. I could use some help." Her voice emerged as soft, but any idiot could tell it wasn't a polite request.

"Tch, it isn't _my_ mess," he replied. The boy's hair was short, blue-black colored, and his skin was a peachy shade. His eyes were dark and his mouth curved into a half-frown. He wore a navy shirt with a red and white crest on the back, and khaki shorts as well as blue sandals. Hands rested in his pockets.

Natsuki nearly scowled, but she knew that if she did, she would lose all control she had. After her last mission, she swore to stay as collected as possible; she would try to appear happy, look kind. As an alternative, the girl smiled. "You're a ninja, aren't you?" She glanced at his hands behind the sunglasses she was wearing. "Oh, you're still in the academy. Well, how about you help me pick these things up? Unless you aren't strong enough; then I'll just have to do it by myself."

_How did she know I'm in the academy?_ He asked himself, but he didn't fret. Silently he lifted the trunks and silently Natsuki put her books in just as they were. It was only when the stranger turned around to walk in the direction he was heading did the girl think to ask him a question, for some help.

"Hey?" Natsuki stopped him.

He half turned and asked, slightly irritated, "What now?"

Natsuki pulled the pendant on her necklace out of her shirt, but gripped it so the boy couldn't see it yet. "I was wondering if you knew…" she began, unsure. "I was wondering if you knew anyone from the U-Uchiha clan."

"Hn," Sasuke glared at her, uninterested in what she had to say, imperative or no. _I don't feel like being tackled by a stupid fan girl now,_ he mentally groaned. But he wondered if she noticed the symbol on his back already, and what she was getting at. He'd never seen her before, not that he cared.

Instead of saying anything more, Natsuki let her hand slide off the pendant identical to his symbol. His dark eyes widened and Natsuki's shut. "… Why do you have that?" inquired Sasuke in a whisper.

"Do you know who that boy that survived is?" She set his question aside for later, knowing only the answer 'From my father,' which may not have been the most informing of answers.

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, that's me."

Natsuki half-smiled, delighted that she'd found him so promptly, and continued: "My name is Natsuki…" She wasn't sure if she should've also mention that she was an Uchiha as well, so she didn't. Sasuke was about to say something to that, but she put her hand up to hush him. "I've come here to find someone. I thought that here would be the only clue I could get." Putting her hand up to her mouth, she giggled a little. "There is a predicament at hand, though. I've heard there are no other Uchiha but you; oh, but except your older brother, but maybe you don't like to talk about him?"

Sasuke grumbled; his hands fisted tightly, "Itachi…"

_As I thought,_ Natsuki told herself. _He hates his older brother, as expected. I might hate my older brother if he destroyed __**my**__ entire family._ "Listen, I've travelled for days and I and my companion are tired. I guess I should let you think a while, kid," Natsuki told him calmly. "Calm down; later."

At the inn, which she'd found just a few minutes later, though in the dark, Natsuki checked in and made herself as close to home as she could. She had a feeling she would be staying there for some time. Biting an apple the color of blood, she mumbled to Tomodachi, "This is going to be an adventure, hmm? Something different…"

The small black and grey dog stretched beside her master in their shared bed and whimpered an answer.

"Yeah," she stroked the dog's white short fur.

*-*

The next morning Natsuki woke up and decided to enroll into the academy. Of course, she'd already been through it, years ago, but if Sasuke Uchiha was going to be there all day long, she would probably have no other way of contacting him. Well, at least not an easy way.

But what she didn't know was that Sasuke had a lot of people that wanted to talk to him. They were all girls, fan girls, she realized. _I don't think he's very cute…_She inwardly giggled at her inside-joke. _I don't know __**what**__ makes them so interested in that boy_, Natsuki thought as she took her seat next to a loud-mouth blond boy who couldn't seem to keep still. _Maybe this was what forced me to graduate so early; the children here are absolutely annoying!_ She looked around at them all.

The students had noticed a new presence, and they made it easily known. Most of them, excluding those that admired Sasuke, all looked at the girl with raven hair, whispering rumors that would be spread throughout the entire school and maybe throughout the village. Natsuki walked toward a couple of girls that covered their mouths when she did. Holding out her hand, she greeted them. "Hello there, my name is Natsuki." She would have been discussing something with Sasuke, but with him tied up, she resolved that she ought to blend in anyway.

The girl with dark brown hair reached out her hand as well and grasped the offered one, trying to seem brave. "Hi, um, I'm Aki. Nice to meet you, I guess." Her friend with the lighter colored hair said the same, and Natsuki thought, _Wow, these people are actually boring; but I guess that's okay, since it means there shouldn't be any trouble. They should stop talking about me, though… it's annoying._

Something caught her eye when she went back to her seat. There was a girl with green eyes and long pink hair, shouting something to a blonde girl, with her hands on her hips. "Sasuke's mine, _Ino-pig_!" was what she told her.

"Oh, yeah; well why you don't just ask him who's better?" the blonde, Ino, retorted.

Marching off toward Sasuke, she replied hotly, "Fine, I will!"

Natsuki sighed at the two's incompetence. _And they call themselves ninja…? Humph, they'll probably end up passing the graduation exam no matter what, for the sake of that kid. It looks to me like they would do just about anything for him, to him, or __**what**__-ever._

Sasuke ignored the hot-tempered girl's rambles and kept his eyes on Natsuki, but he only looked from the side. He stared forward, his hands clasped under his chin. He thought: _she's here, but why? Is she an Uchiha, too? She didn't say, but she was wearing a necklace, a necklace with the Uchiha's crest. What if she is? And who is she looking for? _The boy kept his expression plain and impassive as he waited for class to begin.

After academy, Natsuki caught up with Sasuke and started, breathlessly: "Hey, you ran away, didn't you? I had to… to run. Anyway, you're some kind of an Uchiha, yeah?" She didn't wait for him to answer, since the question was rhetorical. "So, I was wondering, are you sure there's no other existing Uchiha, besides your brother and you? Because, the person I'm looking for, I'm pretty sure, was or is from your clan. So, yeah, are you sure there's no one else, because then he would be dead, and I don't want him to be. Oh! Unless, --- this is _completely_ unlikely ---, but he could be your brother, maybe. He'd have to have been… hmmm…" She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Thirteen when he did, you know… so now he's probably seventeen, am I right?"

Sasuke nodded, a furious look spreading itself willingly or unwillingly across his face.

Natsuki went on, saying, "So, well, I guess that's _way_, _way_ too improbable to believe; but it is still possible… but anyway, I just wanted to know if you knew of anyone --- _anyone_ – else from your clan that's, you know, still alive."

Sasuke answered shortly, "I don't know anyone else." _What's with all her talking? She's almost as annoying as Sakura or Ino, or any other girl._

_Hmm… he's fighting his anger. I can tell. His hands are balled up into fists in his pocket, and I can feel him practically __**glaring**__ at me. I feel unsure about him, this __**Uchiha**__, but I also feel that he can help me find him; he knows who my father is, but also, he doesn't know._ Natsuki's face looked disappointed and she replied, "Hmm, well if you're sure, then I should _definitely_ go back to the inn I've checked into and feed my dog. Oh! I'm hungry too." She held her stomach as it growled. "You don't have anything else to say, do you? You have nothing useful at all?"

"Tch, I don't even know what or who you're looking for, and I don't really care," his gaze was averted and he began to walk away from her. Natsuki waved and hollered a goodbye, but the boy acted as if he hadn't heard it; he honestly didn't care.

_He isn't very nice, but I guess I'm not, either. But the least he could do is __**pretend**__ he is, like I do. It would be less annoying; stupid kid._ Natsuki sauntered off into the other direction, grinning with her hands jammed into her pockets.

That afternoon she went back to the inn and fed Tomodachi the core of the apple she'd eaten on the way there, and then found a training ground to read a book she had on the Uchiha clan; she preferred reading outdoors in a quiet place. Meanwhile, Sasuke was doing some real training. He was throwing shuriken and kunai at a short wooden post, panting for breath.

_I've got to train harder, harder!_ He admonished himself. _If I'm going to beat __him__, then I have to train __**harder**__! No matter how exhausted I get, I can't quit until Itachi is dead; not until I have the same eyes as him; I can't quit!_

_I've got to train less, less!_ She ordered herself. _If I'm going to play "Genin," then I have to appear as weak, a mere Genin. But it's been years since I've been to academy, besides today; what good can come of that? I just know I'll have to take the Graduation Exam, which will be coming up in a few days, I'm sure. Then I'll have to become a ninja all over again. This is painful, very painful._

After snapping her book shut and after Sasuke threw his last shuriken, they both went to a fruit stand; to buy fruit, obviously. It was a sheer coincidence that they met one another there, but probably not one that Sasuke was purchasing cantaloupe and pears while she was purchasing apples and carrots. For one reason or another, Natsuki grew angry because of that, but she didn't tell him or show it.

_I hate pears, and I hate even more cantaloupe; it's disgusting, and what do they do for you, anyway? Yuk._

"Kid," Natsuki addressed Sasuke with a nod when he stared at her, standing just a few inches away. She tilted her head to the left and added, "I've read about you, or, well, your clan. If you ask me, it doesn't sound as impressive to me as I thought it would. You know, hunting down long-time criminals, bandits, using a Kekegenkai called Sharingan… I wouldn't say that those things are _impressive_." Upon saying the last word, she leaned forward slightly and there was a glint in her sunglasses; she was joking, which explained the broad smile her lips created.

Sasuke closed his eyes and stuck his nose in the air confidently. _Nerve-wracking, _Natsuki inwardly grumbled, but you wouldn't have been able to tell what she felt by the totally peaceful and content look on her face. "I don't care what you think."

Natsuki tapped her chin again, which was meant to be an adorable gesture when she was thinking. "Your clan can't really be a clan if there're just two people, though, can it?" She tried to smother her giggles, brushing off the question, guessing that it would further irritate the child standing before her. Becoming suddenly serious, Sasuke's attention became hers. "Hey, follow me." It wasn't a question, it wasn't a request; it was a command disguised by a girl's innocent-sounding, mellifluous voice.

He wordlessly obeyed her, walking four steps behind the girl who's hair appeared somewhat similar to his, except it fell three inches above her waist; the style was done in one unadorned braid, and on each side of her head was let-loose hair that framed her face, like Sasuke's, only her hair curled inward a little more than his. So, yeah, she resembled him to some extent, but it was the front of her hair which was precisely like his that made her look _too_ much like him.

"You're curious about me, aren't you, kid?" she finally inquired once they reached the training grounds that she'd been at twenty minutes ago. Sasuke didn't admit it, but he definitely was; Natsuki didn't wait around for him to become less stubborn. Trying to make her voice sound half-amused and half-serious, as to keep the edge off of the conversation, she went on. "I don't know who I am exactly, but I have some clues."

Sasuke heard a crinkling sound and saw that the raven haired female was holding two sheets of paper, each stamped with a red cloud-shape on the middle top. _What're these, and why do they have anything to do with me?_ He set the brown paper bag with his fruits in them so he could hold the documents in his hands, and Natsuki mimicked.

In his hands were Natsuki's strange Certificate of Birth and the letter from her father. He read over every single word as carefully as Natsuki did, perhaps even more carefully. For a moment, he thought he recognized the handwriting, and then thought, _No way; it couldn't be __**him.**_ He handed the sheets back to the girl three minutes or so later and thought about asking, 'Do you suspect anyone as the people or person you're looking for,' but kept his mouth empty of that sentence. Instead he responded, "I don't know why you showed me these. It's none of my business, and you shouldn't make it mine."

"Sorry, but I'm almost desperate enough to say… well… please." That time she spoke with a flat and uncaring pitch, and that surprised Sasuke; he tried not to show it, though.

_What happened to her voice?_ He wondered, _not that I care._ The kunoichi was doing her best to seem like a "cheery little girl," but for a moment she let that drop to make Sasuke serious, to believe her, to try to cooperate with her. Her bright smile that made her look ever so radiant appeared once again; Sasuke became tense. _First she smiles, then she doesn't… and then she does… What's her deal?_

The wind hit her cheeks and blew her braid and fringed hair. _I don't like the wind,_ she reminded herself solemnly. _I should go before it gets to be too much for me._ Picking up her bag and pulling out an apple Natsuki turned around and giggled a sweet, innocent giggle. "I'll be going now, 'k? Bye, now."

Sasuke was confused. First, she called him to her, and then she leaves, without giving him an explanation; not that he cared for on. It was just common courtesy. _Tch, stupid girl._

Tomodachi whined and hopped into Natsuki's arms; she disliked the wind almost as much as Natsuki did. The wind wasn't a good omen for them. That was all there was to it.

Sasuke made his way back to his apartment, managing to steer clear of the girls that claimed to be in love with him: his fan girls. For supper he ate rice and pears, and fried meat. It was already nine thirty when he finished eating, and he went to bed early. Though determined, he didn't train after his meeting with Natsuki. Natsuki didn't read, or train, after her meeting with Sasuke.

"_Big brother, no; why did you do it, big brother? Why?!" screamed a seven year old Sasuke, near to tears._

"_It was for power; to test my capability."_

"_To test… your capability?" repeated Sasuke in a voice somewhat louder than a whisper. "But, Itachi, I don't get it. You killed Mother and Father, and everyone else."_

_Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, explained without any exasperation. "In order for me to grow stronger, more powerful, I had to kill all of them."_

S_asuke broke down to tears and sobbed. . He was yelling, pleading, that Itachi not take his life as well. Itachi assured him he wouldn't. "When you have the same eyes as me, come face me; avenge the clan."_

Sweat drops rolled down Sasuke's face as he panted, completely out of breath. Abruptly he sat up, clenching the sides of his head, trying to both forget about that night and trying to remember.

Natsuki sprang forward and took in a deep breath, and then she let it out. By that time she was used to it; used to the nightmares and bad memories people had. She also saw good things, but they would always fail to entertain or amuse her. Those visions weren't to her liking, but neither were the darker ones. She just wished she could have her own dreams and nightmares every night, rather than somebody else's. But also, it was the only time she was able to actually see.

Some nights, very few, her mind allowed her to see the very night she longed to forget. That was all she ever saw that was her own; anything else was just nothing, nothing at all. At times, Natsuki did prefer to share those memories of other people, strangers or not, to her own. It was because they weren't hers, they weren't her problem. It was because she didn't have to carry anyone's weight but hers. But either way, it was still nagging. Now she knew part of Sasuke's past, and now she knew why he seemed to be so cruel.

_Itachi…_ Sasuke and Natsuki both thought. Except, when Sasuke thought it, it was with hate and disgust; he practically growled it. Natsuki was thoughtful about it.


	3. Chapter 2

A/n: Next chapter will be the beginning of the Chuunin Exams, so there's where the action should be (hopefully). Well, thanks...

**Disclaimer: ... you know how these things work... I don't own anything... blah blah... *is tired of writing Disclaimers***

* * *

**Chapter Two:**

"All right, Team 8: Shino Abarame, Hinata Hyuuga, and Kiba Inuzuka." Iruka, the class's sensei, announced just after the students had finished their Graduation Exam. He was reading the members of each team, looking at his clipboard. "Team 7: Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki---"

"Yeah!" cried Naruto, getting to his feet and raising his arms.

Sakura groaned. "No…" She didn't want to be on the same team as that idiot; however, he wanted to be on the same team as she was.

"---Sasuke Uchiha, and Natsuki Hashikawa," Iruka finished. He'd put four members on that squad because Natsuki was left over, and honestly, he didn't even believe the members would pass the next test given to them.

This time Sakura rejoiced and Naruto was disappointed. "Just don't get in my way," warned Sasuke coolly, his hands clasped under his chin as he directed his attention forward. Ino and Sakura babbled and bickered about Sasuke while Naruto argued about being on the same squad as the boy he hated. Iruka didn't argue back much and ordered the blond to sit.

"And Team 10: Chouji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka," he completed his list. "Now, you'll meet your sensei after lunch." Iruka dismissed them all.

Natsuki stayed in the classroom throughout the entire lunch period, having already had her lunch in her jacket's large pocket. Leaning backward in her seat, her feet on the desk, the girl bit into her apple and thought, _I wonder how that boy feels. I was inside his mind last night, but he doesn't know, and I'm glad at that. If he did, I'm afraid he might feel embarrassed or weak because of his dream. Hmm, Itachi… now that's something to think about. I saw what the boy saw the night his elder brother murdered his own clan. His mother, father, aunt and uncle… everyone, it seems. Well, except for the remaining survivor, the kid. But… before he fell unconscious, I thought I saw the clan-killer… no, that can't be, but I'm always open to new ideas. I guess I am, anyway._

After lunch, the students' sensei arrived and they all left; that is, all but Team 7's. "He's late," complained Naruto grudgingly. He was standing at the door, his head sticking out, looking for his sensei.

"Naruto, why don't you sit down?" asked Sakura, even though she didn't really care _what_ he did.

He retorted, "But why is the teacher for our group the only one late? All the other groups went somewhere with their new teachers already, and... Iruka-sensei already went home!"

Sakura was leaning against a desk in the first row, and Sasuke sat in the desk next to the one she leaned on; Natsuki was in a seat in the last row. "That's not very important," she told him, hearing a noise suddenly. "Hey, what are you doing, Naruto?" Sasuke looked up to see what the sound Sakura heard was.

Naruto chuckled. The boy was standing on a stool, slipping an undusted eraser above the light blue door. "It's his fault for being late," he said through a grin, stepping down from the wooden stool.

Sakura, her hands on her hips, replied, "Geez, it's your own fault if you get in trouble," while Inner Sakura ranted: _I like these kinds of tricks!_

"Hm, a Jounin isn't going to fall for a plain trap like that," commented Sasuke, leaning into his clasped hands.

"Yeah; Naruto, you're so stupid," agreed Sakura. Then, just after she said that, a large hand was placed on the door's handle. The eraser fell on the man's head and Naruto laughed, pointing his finger at him.

"He fell for it! He fell for it!" he chanted.

Her hands held up to her chin and blushing, the pink haired girl apologized frantically. "I'm sorry, Sensei, I tried to stop him, but Naruto didn't listen to me…" Inner Sakura: Her thumbs up, _Okay._

Sasuke thought, _For real? Is he really a Jounin?_ Natsuki walked silently, her hands jammed into her pockets with a smile brightening her face, down to her new teammates and sensei.

Picking up the eraser which had fallen on the ground after it fell onto his head, the silver-grey haired man said, "How should I say this…? My first impression of you guys is… you're annoying." His forehead protector covered his right eye and his dark blue mask hid most of his face. A boulder fell on the three graduates, but Natsuki ignored the man's insult and continued smiling a smile that wasn't really that cheerful, but she didn't look sad.

On the roof of the Academy, Team 7's sensei began, "Let's see, how about you introduce yourselves?" He was sitting on the railing around the roof and the students were sitting on the steps; Natsuki just sat on the left side of Naruto, so as to not anger Sakura by being too close to "her" Sasuke.

"Introduce ourselves?" asked Sakura. "What should we say?"

"What you like, hate, your dreams, and hobbies." The sensei answered, "Something like that."

Naruto put in enthusiastically, "Hey, hey. Why don't you introduce yourself first, Sensei? You know, so we can understand what you mean better."

"Me?" he pointed at himself. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention of telling you my likes and dislikes---"

"Huh?" Naruto and Sakura said in unison, staring at their sensei. Natsuki and Sasuke didn't pay a lot of attention. They both saw how useless this was, it seemed.

Going on, "As for my dreams…" He just left that hanging. "I have a few hobbies."

Sakura whispered, looking at Naruto and hugging her knees, "So all we found out was his name." Naruto nodded.

"Now it's your turn. You first," nodding at Naruto, he said.

Lifting his headband from his forehead a little, the blond responded, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like cup ramen, but I like the ramen at Ichiraku that Iruka-sensei bought for me even more. I hate the three minutes that I have to wait after I put the hot water in. My hobby is to eat and compare cup ramen! And my dreams---" he fisted his hands determinedly "---is to become greater than the Hokages! I'm going to make all the villagers recognize my existence."

_I see_, thought Kakashi. _He grew up in an interesting way._ "Okay, next!"

"I'm Haruno Sakura," she blushed. "I like… well, the _person_ I like is…" She glanced at Sasuke, still with pink cheeks darker than her hair. "And my hobby is… well, my dream is to…" She glanced at Sasuke again and squealed.

"And?" inquired Kakashi. "What do you hate?"

Immediately the girl grew angry and glared at the boy in front of her. "Naruto," she replied, sending chills up Naruto's spine.

_Girls her age must be more interested in love than ninja training,_ Kakashi realized. "Next guy," he referred to Sasuke; Sakura giggled.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." He sat almost exactly as he did at a desk, only his elbows rested on his knees in the place of the wood. "There are many things that I hate, and there aren't a lot of things that I like." He blinked, and Sakura's smile and blush disappeared. "Also, I have an ambition that I have no intention to leave as just a dream: the revival of my clan, and to… kill a certain man." Things grew silent just then as everyone just stared at him questioningly; well, Natsuki had no questions for him. She already knew…

_I hope he's not referring to me._ Naruto was somewhat frightened.

_Sasuke __**is**__ cool._ Sakura's cheeks were tinted the color of love.

_Just as I thought,_ Kakashi was serious. "Now you," he looked at Natsuki, who sighed.

"You can call me Natsuki Hashikawa. I like apples and I hate, uh, well, a lot of things. Um, I have this objective--- you could call it that, anyway --- and as for what that is, well, I'm no open book like all of you. So you just don't need to know that, 'k?" They all stared at her as they did Sasuke when he said what he did. _She sure is weird,_ was what Naruto thought.

_What a weirdo! She's almost worse than Naruto._

_Is her 'objective' to find what she's looking for?_ Sasuke wondered, although his face stayed blank.

_They're all looking at me,_ thought the girl, a little freaked out. Oh_, well, if everything works out, I won't be here for long; hopefully I'll be gone before the Chunnin Exams roll in. Those were brutal, and I'd prefer not to be stuck watching these __**kids**__._ Natsuki blinked twice, not revealing what she really thought.

_Hmm_…Kakashi was the one to break the silence. "Alright, you four all have unique personalities. I like that. We're going to be on a mission starting tomorrow."

Naruto put his hand to his forehead, saluting, beaming. "What kind of mission is that, sir?!"

"First, we're going to do something that we five can do."

"What, what, what, what is it?" Naruto eagerly wanted to know.

"Survival training," he answered.

Naruto repeated, "Survival training?"

"Why are we going to train when it's a mission?" Sakura inquired a tad on the angry side. "We had plenty of training at the Academy."

"This is no ordinary training."

"Then, then what kind of training is it?"

Kakashi chuckled, giving Natsuki an uneasy feeling. "Hey, what's so funny, Sensei?" asked Sakura.

Still chuckling, he riposted, "Well, if I say this, I know you won't like it."

_Of course not,_ thought Natsuki. _I don't think I've met anyone that really __**liked**__ it. It was just stupid, but it did tell which student was which, who could be worthy of being a Genin and who couldn't. But, it really was stupid._

Becoming unexpectedly grave, Kakashi informed, "Out of the twenty-seven graduates, only ten are going to become Genin. The other eighteen will be sent back to the academy. In other words, this training is going to be a very hard test with a dropout rate of sixty-eight percent." Naruto was positively shocked, his mouth wide open. Sakura's eyes drooped. Sasuke remained the same, but any idiot could tell he was surprised as well. Natsuki pressed her hand over her mouth to suppress the smirk that was tugging on her lips from forming.

"See? I told you that you wouldn't like it!" pointed out the sensei ecstatically.

"No way; I went through so much trouble… Then what was the final exam for?" bellowed the blond.

A brown bird flew high above them. "That? It just picks out those who are qualified to become a Genin."

"What?!" shouted Naruto.

"Anyway," notified Kakashi, "I'm going to determine whether you pass or fail tomorrow at the training grounds. Bring your ninja equipment and meet at 5 A.M.!"

Naruto was shaking. _I'm not going to get dropped by a thing like this,_ he assured himself. _I have to make him recognize my abilities, __**for real**__._

_If I fail this test, I'm going to be separated from Sasuke,_ Sakura told herself. _This is a trial of love!_

Sasuke's hands shook.

_This is no problem… but, these losers aren't going to fail… that's what I feel._

"Now, then, meeting over," Kakashi said, getting to his feet. "Oh yeah, don't eat breakfast. You're going to throw it up if you do."

Before the other three left, Natsuki felt she had to tell them _something_. Being on their team and all, it was something that made sense to do. "It's not as tough as he makes it sound," she gave them and smirked, her back to them as she rushed back to the inn, scolding herself for not be friendly enough. _They're going to see through me if I'm not careful… That would be bad, at least right now._

*-*

At five in the morning, barely light out, three of the graduates arrived at the training grounds as they were told. "Good morning," Sakura greeted sleepily, rubbing her eye.

"Hey…" Naruto was almost a zombie as he greeted back.

Sasuke was silent.

A few minutes later Natsuki got there, finding that the three were just standing. Going toward a tree, she offered a word of advice. "You might want to get a little more sleep, kids. If that sensei isn't here yet, then he'll be pretty late." She took out a dark and lush red apple and held it to her lips; ready to bite into it, but something – _someone_ – stopped her.

"You aren't supposed to eat, you know," Sakura told her in a whiny voice.

"What that sensei told us was a warning, not an instruction. I don't care if I throw up, 'k? But…I guess I should be careful…" she muttered the last part. _I don't think he was telling the truth when he said our stomachs wouldn't keep our breakfast down, but you can never be too careful with the sensei's these days; especially not with this crazy one._ "I guess you can't be too careful, then." Natsuki tucked the fruit back into her weapons pouch, which she didn't use for weapons, but for a place to keep her snacks in case she got hungry.

Without another word from anyone, Natsuki leaned against a wide tree trunk, using her bag as a pillow. Her eyes were shut but it seemed she was unable to sleep. All that the girl could do was simply listen to the silence.

Some hours later: "Hi, guys. Good morning."

"You're late!" reprimanded Naruto and Sakura together.

"A black cat crossed my path, so…" He pointed behind him, grinning on the other side of his mask. His two rather loud students growled, while Sasuke stayed silent. Natsuki walked over to them with her small black bag in hand. "Let's move on," Kakashi stated. He hit a button on a small clock. "Alarm set at 12 P.M." Three bells rang and Naruto and Sakura and Sasuke stared at them. Natsuki gazed at the sky, already familiar with this. "Today's topic is to get one of these bells from me. Whoever can't do it won't have any lunch."

Naruto squeaked, "What?"

"I'm going to tie you there, and eat lunch in front of you." Kakashi pointed to three cut-off trees. Sakura held her stomach; Naruto's hands pressed his cheeks; Sasuke made a weird face; Natsuki's expression was bland. Their stomachs growled for food.

_So that's why he said…_ Sasuke thought.

… _Don't eat breakfast_, Sakura finished. "But wait, why are there only three bells?" She held up three fingers.

Kakashi grinned. "Since there's only three, at least one will have to be tied to the log. That person will fail since he failed to complete the mission. That person will go back to the academy." The three's faces became determined, but also showed fear. "It might just be one or all four. You can use your shuriken. You won't be able to get this unless you have the will to kill me."

Sakura protested, "But that's too dangerous, Sensei."

"Yeah, you couldn't even dodge that chalk eraser!" teased Naruto.

"In society, those who don't have many abilities tend to complain more," Kakashi said. "Just ignore the guy with the lowest score. Now, we're going to start after I say 'Ready, start.'"

_Guy with the lowest score… Blockhead..._ growled Naruto, pulling out a kunai and charging toward Kakashi, who stopped him before he could even touch him. Sakura gasped and Sasuke's mouth dropped; Natsuki unzipped her bag readily.

"Don't get so hasty," warned Kakashi. "I didn't say 'start' yet." Sakura, Natsuki, and Sasuke took two steps back and Kakashi let Naruto free.

_No way… I couldn't see him at all._ Sakura was astonished.

_So this is a Jounin_, Sasuke mentally told himself.

_It's too bad I'll have to use the power of a student that just graduated from Academy. I'm in a fighting mood today…_ Natsuki thought.

"But, it looks like you have the will to kill me now," Kakashi stated the 'bright-side.' He chuckled. _I think I can start liking you four._ "We're going to start." The four readied themselves. "_Ready, start!" _he said. Each of them leaped off in their own direction to hide and wait for a good moment to attack.

-

About an hour later, the timer went off and the four students were at the posts, along with their teacher. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto, who was tied to the post, had grumbling stomachs as they looked at the ground. Sakura and Sasuke were sitting on each side of Naruto, and Natsuki was next to Sakura.

"Your stomachs are growling, eh?" said Kakashi. "By the way, about the results of this training… none of you need to return to the Ninja Academy."

Naruto beamed and Sakura asked, "What? But all I did was faint. Was that okay?" Inner Sakura:_Love concurs all, cha!_ A small smile crossed Sasuke's lips. Natsuki couldn't do anything but cough and clutch her side; no one seemed to care about it or her at all.

"Does that mean us four…?" Naruto would be leaping with excitement, but he was tied up so he couldn't; Sakura leapt for him.

"Yeah, you four… should quit being ninjas!" Naruto and Sakura immediately froze, Natsuki was able to halt in her coughing for that moment, and Sasuke's face had converted to serious.

_Part two: Psyche them out and make them believe they're hopeless. _Natsuki thought,_ basically this is the part that __**really**__ tests them. Part one was where the sensei would see if they could come up with how to beat a Jounin. It turns out they didn't; losers._

"Quit being ninjas? What do you mean?" demanded Naruto angrily. "We couldn't get a bell, but why should we quit?!"

"It's because you four are just kids who don't even deserve to be ninjas," Kakashi explained, hitting one of Sasuke's nerves. The boy ran at Kakashi and Sakura yelled his name. "See?" Kakashi had Sasuke pinned to the ground. "You're all just kids."

Sakura yelled, "Don't sit on Sasuke!"

"Do you guys think being a ninja is easy? Why do you think we're training by breaking up into groups?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura wanted to know.

"In other words, you four don't understand the answer of this test," conveyed the sensei.

Naruto queried, "The answer?"

"That's right. The answer to determine whether you pass or fail," continued Kakashi.

Sakura put in, "I've wanted to ask what that is."

"Geez, are you stupid? You don't understand why you're all in a group?"

"So what about three people being in a group?" erupted Naruto.

Natsuki reluctantly raised her hand, breathing out a light cough. Kakashi looked at her. "It's teamwork, right?" Kakashi nodded, and the other three students' eyes widened at the realization.

"Teamwork," repeated Kakashi.

"You mean, cooperate with each other?" Sakura inquired.

Kakashi answered, "That's right. But it's too late even if you notice now." You could tell he wore a solemn face, even thought his mask covered most of it. "If all four of you came at me at once, maybe you could have gotten a bell. But that's too bad."

_Wait…_ "Why do we need to use teamwork when there are only three bells?" Sakura pointed out. "If four people work hard to get it, one person will have to bite the bullet. A group conflict will occur instead of teamwork."

"Of course; this test tries to put you four against each other. In this situation, we select those who can prioritize teamwork before themselves. That was the purpose, but all of you were pathetic." _If she already knew, then why didn't she tell the others? She would've benefitted too; she couldn't have thought she could get a bell by herself._ Kakashi was referring to Natsuki, who had begun coughing once again; only she was rummaging through her bag instead of covering her mouth. "Sakura, you cared more about Sasuke than Naruto, even though Naruto was right in front of you and you didn't know where Sasuke was. Naruto! All you did was work on your own. And you," he pushed Sasuke's face further into the ground, "assumed that those three were only going to burden you and did everything yourself. Not one of you paid any attention to Natsuki when she was clearly in pain. And Natsuki," he looked at her, but she ignored him and continued feeling for what she needed. "You also acted on your own, but you knew what this exercise was about."

Natsuki set down her bag and pulled something out of the weapons pouch attached to her thigh. _Here's where I put it._ She stuck herself in the leg with a needle, a vaccination, and injected the liquid. When she did that, she disregarded the puzzled faces and coughed her last cough. "I attacked you on my own, yeah, but I did help these guys here, and asked for their help, too."

"Huh?" Kakashi was blatantly confused.

"I helped crazy-boy here out of the tree when his ankles were tied by the rope for the second time and also steered him away from any other traps you may have set---" Kakashi stared at her, wanting to know how she knew he'd set other traps. "I helped the other guy get out of the ground; and on top of that, I helped the other one get a hold of her-self after you cast Genjutsu on her. I'm not saying that I'm perfect at teamwork, but I didn't avoid them like they did each other and me, 'k?" Natsuki felt better after that vaccination, but she realized then that her stomach was empty, so silently told the sensei to hurry up with the lesson.

Kakashi paused, and then went on with the speech he was giving before she said what she said. "That may be so, but missions are done in groups. It's true that ninjas need well-developed individual abilities, but it's teamwork that is much more important. An individual attack that disrupts the teamwork will result in danger or even death for the teammates. For example---" he pulled a kunai out of his pouch and held it to Sasuke's neck "---Sakura, kill Naruto now or Sasuke dies." Naruto looked at Sakura and then at Sasuke multiple times, eyes wide, and Sakura stared at Sasuke, frightened. _He doesn't mean it, __**idiots**__, _thought Natsuki. "That's what will happen." He removed the kunai at the boy's neck.

"Oh, you surprised me," exhaled the relieved Sakura.

"After someone is taken hostage," Kakashi twirled the kunai around his index finger, "you will be faced with a difficult decision, and someone will die. On every mission you put your life on the line." He got off of Sasuke and sauntered over to the stone. "Look at this… the numerous names carved into the stone. All these names are those praised as heroes of this village."

Naruto exclaimed, "I like that! I like that! I've decided that I'll have my name carved into that!" When he said that, Sakura's look grew angry. "A hero, I'm not going to die a useless death!" Sasuke took his seat back next to Naruto.

"Those aren't normal heroes," clarified Kakashi.

"So what kind of heroes were they?" When he didn't get an answer right away, Naruto pressed, "Come on, tell me!"

"Those who were K.I.A," replied the sensei.

"K.I.A.?" asked Naruto.

Sakura added, "Those who were killed in action." Naruto's smiled disappeared.

"This is a monument. The names of my closest friends are carved in here as well," Kakashi told them. Sakura's and Sasuke's expressions were melancholy, Naruto's was… well, it wasn't happy. Natsuki's was blank, as she had already known it all, and it was no surprise to her at all. She'd accepted death a long time ago.

Kakashi suddenly turned around and said, "I'll give you another chance. However, the battle for the bell will be much harsher after lunch. Eat lunch only if you are up to the challenge. But! Don't let Naruto eat." Naruto made a weird noise that showed he wasn't exactly on agreements with that. "This is punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat lunch early. If anyone feeds him, the person will immediately fail," he warned them.

Naruto was gaping, Sakura was just sitting there, Natsuki paid no attention, and Sasuke only stared. "I'm the boss here, got it?" Kakashi added before he went away to let the four at their lunch.

_This is… Part three,_ Natsuki told herself. _I would think about giving a small word of caution to these guys, but that would lead to questions for me that I can't allow myself to answer._

Naruto's stomach yearned for food, everyone heard. Natsuki kept to eating the food she brought for herself, as she wasn't much of a rice eater, or a meat eater, or an eater of anything Kakashi brought, actually. Sakura ate from the box lunch brought and so did Sasuke. "I'm okay even if I don't eat!" assured Naruto loudly. "I'm okay!" but his stomach said otherwise. "Okay…"

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "Here," he said, extending his arm with the box in his hand. Naruto and Sakura looked at him.

"Hey, Sasuke, Sensei just said that…" she looked both ways suspiciously.

_Have they figured it out?_ Natsuki thought.

"Don't worry. I don't sense him nearby," Sasuke stated. "We four are going to get the bells together. It's only going to be trouble if he's hungry."

"Sasuke…" She looked at her food and offered it to Naruto, whose eyes were bulging.

"Sakura…" his eyes began tearing up joyfully; she gave him a smile. "Thanks…"

"You don't need to thank me, just eat; hurry."

"But, um…"

"I'm on a diet… I mean, I eat less than Sasuke. So don't worry about it."

Naruto went on hesitantly, "But…" He gestured towards his hands. "See?" Sakura's face showed some sort of anger.

Sasuke ordered, "Hurry, we don't know when he's going to come back."

"I'm only going to do this once. You understand?!" Sakura grumbled, holding a small ball of rice with her chopsticks.

"I understand," Naruto grinned, accepting a bite. Then after that one bite, a huge puff of smoke came, and Kakashi popped out of it.

"You four!" he shouted, a maniacal look in his eye. "You four broke the rule. Are you ready for the punishment?" He did some hand-signs and the sky was flooded with dark clouds.

Naruto said, "But… But…But…You said… That's why these two…"

"We're a four-man team, right?" conveyed Sasuke. Sakura looked at him and agreed.

"Yeah, we four are one!"

Naruto looked at Sakura and Sasuke. "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" he agreed. "That's right!"

"You four are one, eh?" Kakashi stared at each of them and declared with a smile on his face, "You pass!" Naruto and Sakura's expression lightened, but Sasuke's stayed tense. "You pass."

"Pass? Why?" asked Sakura.

The sky cleared again. "You four are the first. People I had first were blockheads who just listened to what I said. 'Ninjas need to think beyond the normal.' In the world of ninjas those who break the rules are called scum. But those who don't take care of their friends are even worse than scum." Sakura's eyes were bright and Naruto's were tearing up, Sasuke smiled, and Natsuki looked solemn.

"He's… he's kind of cool," muttered Naruto.

"The training ends here! Everyone passes!" announced Kakashi. "The 7th group will start doing missions starting tomorrow!" He raised his thumb.

Sakura said to that, "Yeah!"

"I did it! I'm a ninja, ninja, ninja!" shouted Naruto.

"But… where did the other one get to, Natsuki?" Kakashi suddenly remembered there being four Genin there.

Sakura looked around. "Huh? Wasn't she here just a second ago?"

"Oh, well," brushed off the sensei, knowing that she'd already heard that they'd passed.

_Alright!_ Inner Sakura shrieked after forgetting about the mission team member a moment later.

Naruto kicked, still tied to the tree as the others walked away. "I _knew_ it was going to end like this!" His expression was angry. "Untie the freaking rope!"


	4. Chapter 3

A/n: I guess I'm going to call this a boring filler chapter, at least it is in my opinion...

Disclaimer: This is my disclaimer, which states that I own nothing related to Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto and not by me. (If I was given a few more years, then maybe this would be mine and not his, lol) But since it's not, I'm stuck taking up space with a Disclaimer. I don't own Naruto.

**

* * *

****Chapter Three:**

Now Team 7 had missions to do. The objective today was to find a cat with a ribbon on its left ear and return it to its owner. It was easy enough; actually, it wasn't _hard_ enough for Naruto. He complained and complained about it like a bratty child, and sat on the floor with his arms crossed. Finally the Hokage gave in, to everyone's, especially Iruka's, surprise. Naruto shouted enthusiastically, "Really?" Hokage nodded, inhaling his pipe, and gestured to the door.

"You can come in now," he said.

A man that looked to be in his fifties, maybe, opened the door, grunting, "What's this? They're all a bunch of brats, especially the short one with the stupid-looking face!" He leaned against the doorway.

Naruto looked to his teammates, laughing, "Ha-ha, who's the short one with the stupid face…?" But his laughs were ended a second later, after the other three moved closer to him and he realized he was the second shortest of them all, next to Natsuki whose face certainly wasn't stupid-looking. The blond lunged toward the insulting man, screaming, "I'll kill you!" Kakashi grabbed him by the collar and scolded him before he could make any moves.

"I am the master bridge builder, Tazuna. I expect you to provide me protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge," he told them. The squad of five and Tazuna walked to the gates leading out of Konoha, and that was when Natsuki spoke up. Well, after Naruto had shouted, 'Let's go.'

She was wearing the same clothes she'd been wearing: a dark blue jacket with loose sleeves and khaki shorts, with gauze around her left thigh and her right fore-arm, where she kept a four-inch long and three-inch wide rectangle-shaped pouch that couldn't have been used to store weapons. Regular blue sandals were on her feet, and square sunglasses over her eyes; she wore the Leaf forehead protector in its original place. "Hey," they all stopped walking and stared at her. The girl said this through a smile, "Sorry, but, I can't join you on your mission today. If you're going all the way to the Land of Waves, I won't have enough medicine to last me the entire trip. I'll have to stay here." Naruto looked befuddled and Sakura's expression didn't show any signs of her caring, a bit similar to Sasuke's. Kakashi responded with an 'all right,' and then another short statement. The builder didn't even look her way.

So, then the team left, Naruto still screaming ardently and Sakura telling him to shut up.

*-*

Close to three months later, the team was on a nearly finished bridge, along with Tazuna, more than thirty men who wore vicious smirks, and another man separated from them. The bottom part of his face was bandaged and his arms appeared limp. Naruto was screaming at him about a boy named Haku.

"He threw away his life for you!" he said through tears. "Without his own dream… to die as a tool… that's just too sad…" The liquid was streaming out of both corners of his closed eyes, and snot ran out of his nose.

The man he was bawling to responded, his own tears leaking down his face, "… You don't need to say anymore…" Naruto looked at him astonished, and so did Kakashi. "Kid, it pained him to fight you… Haku fought not only for me… he fought for you, too. He was too kind. I'm glad I got to face you in the end. Yeah, kid, you may be right…"

"Huh?"

"A shinobi is still human… we may not be able to become emotionless tools. I've lost…" The tall man with ruffled brown hair grew solemn just then. "Kid, let me borrow your kunai." Naruto looked at him, still crying, and tossed it over to him.

He mumbled, "Yeah." And the man holding the blue-eyed ninja's kunai charged at the gang of men.

Meanwhile, Natsuki climbed out of a miniature boat she'd taken to the village and onto the unfinished bridge. She made her way over to a weeping Sakura, who was leaning over a badly injured Sasuke. "Hey, move it; you're in the way," she said in a tone that couldn't be deciphered as any certain feeling. The green-eyed kunoichi looked up, sniffling.

"N-Natsuki?" she inquired, wondering why her teammate was there, but ultimately thinking about the other one; he was lying on his back, presumed dead. Glancing at the boy, she added, "S-Sasuke is…"

Natsuki pushed her aside gently and Tazuna watched as intently as his heart-broken guard did. "I already know," was the only other thing she uttered before placing her hands over the boy's wounds. _It won't do me any good if he dies, so I had to come all the way here to save his butt! There was a reason I stayed; geez, I can't trust these wimps, to do anything! Even their sensei is useless. I mean, they didn't even check to see if he even had a pulse, and when they found one they could've spent their time bandaging the kid instead of crying on top of him. Oh, but well,_ she corrected herself, _I guess those senbon gave the affect that he was dead, temporarily stopping his heart. But, that's still no excuse._ A blue-green chakra poured out of her palm, to Sakura's amazement.

_What's she doing?_ Was all she could ask herself.

In a matter of minutes, Natsuki stood and dusted off her hands. "There, he'll be okay now, but I only healed in partially. He'll need those needles pulled out of him and his wounds bandaged," she voiced, backing a few steps away and turning to face the battle at hand. It was nearly over. One against ten… twenty… no, almost thirty gang members; the solo person didn't have very good odds. She pictured everything that was happening then, listened to some men fall to the ground, and to a loud splash in the water, and to Sakura's obnoxious whining. _Sakura must not have heard me when I told her he was fine,_ she said to herself, concentrating on the divided sounds.

_Thump!_

_Did I… die…?_ There was a distant sound at his thoughts, crying. _Sakura…?! Am I… Am I…?_ "Sakura… I can't breathe with you on top of me." Sakura immediately sat up, her tears settling. Needles were in Sasuke's arms and legs, his neck and back, through him. He was a mess, though it would've been pretty difficult to decide who looked worse, him or his female companion; who had snot dripping out of her nostrils and countless tears rolling down her cheeks.

She sniffled and hiccupped, and when the information that her crush was alive finally registered, she pulled him into a tight embrace, yelling his name; at this the boy, who had only just regained consciousness, moaned, "Sakura… that hurts…" She apologized and let him free of her tight grip. He asked about Naruto and the 'masked kid,' Haku; informed that the loud-mouth ninja was fine and that Haku was dead, he queried, "Dead? Did Naruto kill him?"

"N-no, I'm not sure. I came in late."

"I see," Sasuke slowly got to his feet.

Smiling, "I… had faith in you. I knew you couldn't die. It's amazing how you stopped attacks from hitting critical areas," she told him. Sasuke was fully at his feet now, and with that, Sakura stood as well and notified Naruto that he was all right. Naruto's response was a few sniffles and a bellowing guffaw.

Then, just as it seemed the trouble was all over, with Zabuza on the ground unable to move and Haku dead, the men hired by the also dead thug were irate that their 'meal ticket' was gone. They were going to attack the remaining shinobi, four Genin and a Jounin. Kakashi was just about out of chakra, Naruto and Sasuke were completely beat up, and Sakura couldn't handle every one of them by herself; not even with the unable-to-use-full-strength Natsuki. That was when Inari, Tazuna's grandson, arrived with the rest of the village; he declared they, the hired thugs, leave now or face the wrath of the islanders. Naruto and Kakashi made a ton of shadow clones, hoping it might fool them as well, and they all ran off the end of the bridge and swam or rode away in the boat that was there.

Once the men were gone, Zabuza, lying on the ground with many long, sharp spears and the like stuck in his back, requested Kakashi to take him to Haku. And he did, and that was where he died; right next to the boy that had been beside him for years, as it snowed. They left the Land of the Waves two weeks later after visiting Zabuza's and Haku's graves.

*-*

A while later, Kakashi's squad returned from another, easier mission. Kakashi had left and so did Sasuke, and Sakura was chasing Naruto and his younger Academy-student friends after one of them named Konohamaru asked if she was even human with that wide forehead of hers. That was when he ran into someone whose forehead protector stated that he was a Sand Nin. There was also a girl with him that had blonde hair in four spiky ponytails and green eyes. He wore purple make-up and a black outfit, with a mummy-like object being carried on his back. The fourteen-year-old looked angry.

"That hurt, you brat," said the Sand ninja, picking up the boy by his shirt. His female companion warned him not to do that, that they'll get into trouble later. Sakura apologized, saying that they were only playing around, while inwardly she was wondering who those people were.

Naruto bellowed, "Hey, you, let go of him!" The older shinobi easily figured out that Naruto was a Leaf Genin, and decided to mess around with him. Still holding Konohamaru, and having the blond kid charging at him, he stopped him easily. _What was that?_ He thought. The foreign ninja laughed at how weak he was, while Sakura wanted to know why they were there when they weren't from their village.

Natsuki was there the entire time, but was only watching until she decided to join in; or rather, stop the ruckus. "Hey, you should really---" Only her soft warning was drowned out by more loud dialogue from Naruto and the others there. _Oh, why do I even try? But all the same, I am curious about this guy, and the other one, too; though, she hasn't said much. I wonder… oh, could it really be time for __**that**__?_

A small pebble flew out of a tree just before the unfamiliar person struck the child in his grip. It was Sasuke. "What are you doing in our village?" he queried, throwing a few small rocks up and down in his hand, sitting in a tree branch. The way he was sitting and looking at them made him seem pretty arrogant, but that didn't stop the Haruno from screaming his name and the Sand kunoichi from blushing at him. "Get lost."

"Hey, punk, get down here! I hate show-offs like you the most," he fisted his hand and looked at Sasuke. Before Sasuke had a chance to get down from the branch and the other ninja could pull out the thing on his back, someone said in a creepy-like tone:

"Kankuro, stop it." Sasuke's eyes widened; the voice was on the other side of the tree he was in. He had reddish-brown hair and sky blue eyes, a gourd on his back. Upside-down, his feet clinging to the bottom of the bough and his arms crossed, he told his comrade, "You're an embarrassment to our village."

The boy, Kankuro, grinned sheepishly; it was almost as if he was nervous about something. "Ga-Gaara…"

_Him… when did he…?_ Sasuke pondered, staring at the new presence. _That's Jonin-level sneakiness._

"Losing yourself in a fight, how pathetic," continued the boy, who appeared twelve or thirteen. "Why do you think we came to the Leaf village?"

Kankuro tattled, "Listen, Gaara, they started it and…"

"Shut up… or I'll kill you," advised Gaara without any hesitation whatsoever. Kankuro apologized twice, and Gaara apologized to the Leaf Genin, all the while thinking about Sasuke throwing a stone and stopping the companion.

When they turned to go, Sakura made them halt and told them to state their purpose for being there, as it was forbidden for shinobi to enter other villages without permission. "Hah, talk about clueless," said the female from the Sand. "Don't you know anything?" She showed them her pass.

Natsuki explained the reason they were there: "The Chunnin Exams will be taking place soon," and she continued on with the explanation until they--- mostly Naruto--- fully understood. And after Sasuke had his short conversation with Gaara, the shinobi from the Sand left.

_This is getting interesting, maybe these Exams won't be so bad after all. But still, I would've preferred to be finished with this place by now. So far I've gotten no clues at all about who he is, and Sasuke's no help; it's been months and I haven't been able to speak with him about my __**personal**__ problem because someone is always around. This sucks!_

*-*

Kakashi had just given the group their Chunnin Exam applications, feeding the lie that they could choose individually whether or not they wanted to take part in this exam. Both Naruto and Sasuke were confident about it, Natsuki was angry that they were taking place so soon, though she hid that feeling with a fake smile. The other female of the group, the weakest of them all, was having doubts, noticing that she couldn't even keep up with her male teammates; she didn't know any skills that Natsuki had, but assumed that she was probably stronger if she could heal. She fell over when she ran to reach for the bells and went into a coughing fit, but she knew she could do something _useful_ when her squad members were impaired. That was better than Sakura, at least.

Natsuki slowed her pace to wait for Sakura to catch up to her. The younger team member didn't care about her other, but she saw that something was wrong because she was far behind Naruto and Sasuke, and herself, who was behind them. Naruto was ranting about being the best, the Uchiha thinking about fighting strong opponents when she stated simply, "When you're strong, the exam won't be hard. If you don't believe you're strong, you definitely won't be." The dark-headed girl said this through a small smile, a thoughtful tone, and a small giggle following before she walked ahead; Sakura was left wondering what she meant.

*-*

A lot of teams showed up at the academy the next day, all with applications filled out and totally psyched attitudes. Well, mostly everyone. Naruto was getting help with his paper from Sakura, and she herself was still just a little unsure about the Exams, despite the night before. Iruka had disguised himself in order to test Team 7 to see if they were really strong enough to enter this dangerous test. They'd all passed, Natsuki doing so a bit too easily, but his doubts and worries still remained.

When they entered the building, Sasuke saw through the Genjutsu on the floor they were on, and arrogantly continued on. Natsuki went ahead to hand in her application while the Uchiha and Naruto and Sakura went and fought Rock Lee, who had proclaimed love for the wide-fore headed Genin. She later met them outside the doors of the room that would hold the first part of the Exam.

Before they entered, Natsuki told the three of them, Kakashi there as well, "This isn't going to be easy, the exam—at least, that's what I've heard." She paused, not wanting to make a crucial mistake. When she stated the next part, she turned so her back was to the rest. "I won't protect you, got it?" All signs of kindness that sweetened her pitch before were gone now, and she opened the doors, not listening to what Kakashi told them all after her announcement.

They were on their own now, in the large room filled with over fifty Genin. Sasuke looked at Natsuki, careful not to stare, and wondered what she meant by, 'I won't protect you.' Did she really believe that they needed her help, that they were weaklings? _Naruto, maybe, but not me, _he thought, glancing at the blond boy, who was doing something hyper and annoying. Natsuki was facing him, sitting on the ground against the wall beside the doors.

As a boy with silver hair in a ponytail approached the 'Rookie 9(10 because of Natsuki)', the youngest of them all felt something strange when he stated his name, Kabuto. She could just feel him sneering behind that fake smile of his. He was worse than she was, though it appeared he could maintain himself very well, make better than her. Natsuki had to leave before she found herself too angry, before her real self was let loose. There was something about this Kabuto guy that was just far too _natural_, too polite and kind. He was even trying to help the others and give them pointers for the Exam, as he'd taken it several times, she overheard.

The test proctor, Ibiki Morino, had made it clear that this part of the Exam was to be able to cheat without being caught. Everyone cheated in their own unique ways, though some of them were not quite good enough to make the cut. Sakura had her brains so she didn't have to peak for any of the nine given questions, Sasuke his Sharingan, and Naruto hadn't even figured out the reason behind the hard quiz; his paper was blank. Natsuki, with her enhanced hearing, listened to the movements of the person's pencil in the seat in front of her. It turned out to be Sasuke's, and he was on the sixth problem. She could tell by the angle his writing utensil moved at, and followed him throughout the next three, then went to other people for the answers to the other challenges.

_Down, left, cross…_ thought the girl. Natsuki was positive she'd have no quandary solving any one of the inquiries set before her, but because the words lacked boldness she couldn't run her hands over them to read. When she came to a finish, she noticed that Naruto hadn't even lifted his pencil once. It wasn't that she particularly cared; she didn't even want to take this Exam in the first place, but she knew him fairly well and was certain he'd be crushed if he failed. _So will Uchiha,_ she told herself, not that she cared about him either.

"Time," said the scar-faced man. The forty-five minutes were up, and the tenth question was to be revealed. Ibiki explained that if anyone got this question wrong, they would never become a Chunnin, which lead to a few protests. In the end, a lot of people raised their hands in defeat and left the room. Sakura mentally told Naruto to raise his hand too, that it was okay. _No,_ thought Natsuki, chewing on her eraser (apples were not allowed here); _you can't give up on this yet. I know we aren't exactly friends, but…_ She scolded herself after thinking what she next thought. _Don't give up, you kid!_

Sakura saw that Naruto was too stubborn to raise his own hand, so as she was about to, he finally did. Reluctant, but it went up. After a moment of silence, his arm shaking in the air, he shouted, "No!" and jerked his upper limb back onto his desk. "I won't give up, because that's my ninja way!" After his short, heart-felt speech, he ended up giving the remaining people enough courage to stay as well. His pink-headed teammate was relieved, then, and found herself believing in him a little.

"You pass," the instructor stated. That was the last question. Everyone was pretty ticked, but truthfully, Natsuki saw something like this coming. She'd only been through the test once and passed, but they were all different. _Way to go, Team 7, _she silently praised them, though her fury returned when they were taken outside the Forest of Death.

* * *

A/n: Sorry it took so long to update. I've honestly had this chapter written for a month, but didn't have internet usage during that time. Also, now I'm going to school, and I've been collapsing right when I get home (lucky I haven't been getting much homework). Like I said at the top, this is just a boring filler chapter, trying to get to the real point as fast as I can. I've decided that I'm going to place this in Shippuden after this story is finished. That's where, I'm planning, the _real _action will take place. Hopefully, that is. I want to get to that as soon as possible, as I've written most of it in my head already, though I have so many ideas I can't decide some of them. Well anyway, I've decided that this first story will just be a building block to the real one that will have more of my imagination and less of what actually happens (though there will be some things that do happen, just the scenarios will be changed a bit).


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four:**

Sasuke was put in charge of the scroll, and they entered the Forest of Death. All was quiet as the Uchiha thought of a strategy to get the opposite scroll, Sakura worried about everyone and herself, and Naruto was thinking about eating something. After about twenty minutes of darting through the forest, trying to get as far away from the gate they'd entered from and to a safe place, Natsuki spoke in the tone she'd used before; the one that could be described as even icier than her male comrade's.

"I'll be going now," she uttered, waiting for a response.

"Leaving?! But why?" came Sakura's shocked voice.

Natsuki changed her direction, hopping from tree to tree backwards, and waved, giving a smile she hoped would reassure them while she was gone. "I told you I wouldn't protect you!" she hollered, and then she disappeared from their eye-sight. Sasuke felt for the scroll in his back pouch, making sure it was still there. He enunciated the plan.

*-*

Sakura brought her kunai to her hair and cut straight through; releasing her of the hold Kin had her in. Sasuke and Naruto were both unconscious from the attack brought upon them before, when Natsuki was off on her own. Free now, she was ready to fight. While she confronted her enemies, Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru were discussing behind a bush whether or not to go into the dangerous scene and help her. Finally, after the kunoichi was thrown off of the brown-headed Zaku, the team jumped in.

Ino was able to defeat Kin using her Mind Transfer Jutsu, but Zaku or the other ninja, Dosu, weren't as easy. Before Zaku got the chance to deal with all of them, something--- someone--- flew in and dealt him a foot print in the face. "Natsuki!" shouted the hopeful Sakura, who was on her knees and blatantly injured. Natsuki ignored her, glancing at the other two to see how they were doing; unconscious, but alive. Their hearts beat in their chests clearly and steadily enough.

Zaku was barely worn from Sakura's small attacks, and he was now directing attention to the girl who had most recently hit him. He pressed his hands to the ground and earth flew upward, to which Natsuki leaped high into the air to avoid. She didn't give him another chance or opening to try and hit her with his jutsu. She pressed her hand into his abdomen as hard as she could, surely leaving a painful bruise, flipped backward to swipe two kunai from the ground, and then was in front of him in seconds; slashing his cheeks centimeters deep, she pushed the sharp weapons that Sakura and Kin had previously used into his shoulders, just caressing each of his bones. The tips stuck out on either side, and it was clearly excruciating because he shrieked out loudly, gasping for breath especially when she pulled it out extremely slowly. Before Dosu could aid his comrade, Natsuki threw a kunai just past his ear. Everyone who saw was able to tell it was no accident she missed. It was a warning for them.

Ino and Sakura gaped, side by side, both wondering how this younger kunoichi who was just a Genin could be so aggressive and yet so graceful at the same time. It looked like she danced, and made being a ninja an art. They admired her, though each female was too egoistic and self-absorbed that they'd never admit it to anyone else. How was she capable of doing these extraordinary things when she should've been so much more underdeveloped than them? None of them, not even together, could beat those guys, and here _she_ was, with them at their knees.

When Sasuke stirred and got up from the ground, moments after Natsuki threw the threatening tool, some sort of demonic chakra surrounded him. Sakura stared at him, baffled and somewhat frightened by his chilling appearance, and as he asked who hurt her and went after Zaku, who was already on the ground holding his bleeding now useless shoulders, Natsuki threw a shuriken in front of him to halt him.

"What are you doing?" she reprimanded in a harsh, urgent tone. "I've already impaired him, they're going to leave!" Sasuke didn't obey, only went further and broke the older boy's arms ruthlessly. As he began heading after the other who had yet to attack, he was stopped by Sakura, who embraced him from behind. Calmed down now, he listened to Dosu saying he had what he needed; then he left with his teammates' arms slung around each shoulder.

As the group believed all was okay and quieted down for the time being, Neji and Tenten came down below to retrieve Lee and Shikamaru and Chouji listened to Naruto talking in his sleep, as well as Ino fixing Sakura's cut hair, Natsuki scowled at Sasuke and shouted, "I told you not to do that! Don't you know why? That mark--- nngh!" She held her side, teeth clenched, and bent forward in an aggrieved manner. Sakura got up to assist her, leaving the Uchiha and everyone else to stare. She hadn't been hurt once when she fought against Zaku, she was barely dirty and didn't have any external scrapes or cuts on the skin that showed.

Kneeling next to Natsuki, who was on her knees now, she put her hands on her arm and worried. "Hey, are you okay? Natsuki, what's wrong?" panicked Sakura.

Out of curiosity Neji activated his Byakugan and scanned her inside. He saw that she had a lot of inner turmoil, and that she would need treated by an exceedingly skilled Medical Nin, for it was very bad. When Tenten asked what he was looking at, he deactivated his Kekegenkai and answered with a shake of his head.

*-*

The next day, at a river where they'd carried Natsuki while she was unconscious since the day before, Naruto and Sasuke fished. Well, Naruto did the catching while Sasuke seemed to be trying to bring him down. Just then Sakura hollered for one of his Fire-balls to start the fire she'd prepared for. Before he came, Natsuki had woken and heard her, doing it for him. Sakura thought the same thing Kakashi had when he first saw Sasuke do a Fire ninjutsu. Sasuke was a bit shocked, as his other companion, but unlike her he kept it hidden.

Then Sakura nagged her, "You just woke up, so you shouldn't be doing anything that strains you." Yesterday she'd fallen on the ground out cold, and Sakura had tended to her. "Why did you come back anyway, after you said you weren't going to?" She was careful as she approached that subject, and Sasuke stood quietly and stared as he'd been doing.

For a full minute she didn't respond, and then, in a cruel tone she replied, "I was irresponsible and left my medicine with you accidentally. Obviously I had to get it back, so I came looking for you." Natsuki turned her head while she said that, and didn't look at them until Sakura inquired:

"But you saved us…" she was unsure of whether or not her squad member told the truth, and if not, why was she lying? "Natsuki…?"

"You saw what happened to me because I didn't have my medicine. They wouldn't have allowed me to leave, so I did what I could for my own gain." _These losers, I can't believe they might actually believe I care about them; Sasuke, maybe, but he's important at the moment. The other two are just burdens, in the way. I've already been in this village for months, and have no steady clues as to who my father is. If this drags on, I'm going to give up and die!_ She thought, struggling to stand and eventually getting there.

Sakura exclaimed, as if she hadn't heard or believed Natsuki's previous explanation, "You can't go yet! You're still too weak, and you _are_part of our team, anyway." Naruto had brought the three fish he'd caught just then, and Sakura complained they were short one.

Natsuki shushed their whining and scolding, saying she'd brought her own food, pulling out an apple from her jacket pocket and biting into it. They all gawked at her, and she queried in a bored tone, "Would you like one? I brought… a few." Apples were the only thing she'd ever been seen eating, and Team 7 was beginning to wonder if that was all she ever ate. As if reading their minds, she added, "I can't live off of fruit, I eat other things."

Before she got her chance to leave, a familiar scent was approaching. She didn't want to seem vulnerable in front of a person she saw as an enemy, so she immediately hardened her expression and stood so that he couldn't tell she'd been out cold not more than five minutes ago. No one had taken off her dark spectacles, and Natsuki wondered if the Genin were afraid to touch her, besides to carry her here. Well, she was glad none of them did, because it would be a mess if she ended up being forced to explain why she needed them so badly; never had they even thought of the possibility that she was actually sightless, completely, one-hundred percent blind. That was the way she preferred it.

"Give me my medicine, Sakura. In case we separate again I need it," ordered Natsuki, extending her hand, her voice revealing no signs of anger or hostility. It was more wary, soft.

Sakura considered forcing Natsuki to stay with her team by keeping the case to herself, giving it to her comrade only when she would need it. Already, with Sasuke and her, and even Naruto, with her as fragile as she was at that moment, couldn't they could all three keep her there. That is, if she really _was_as weak as she appeared. However, when she remembered what she'd done not long ago to Zaku, and how she admonished Sasuke for disobeying her, she quickly let vanish all those thoughts. _Besides,_ she told herself, forcing a smile, _no one else cares whether she stays or goes, right? So I'd be alone on this one._She didn't know what she was thinking, why she wanted Natsuki to stay. The girl was competition for Sasuke's heart, so why would she want her being in the way?

The green-eyed Haruno handed the small holster over to its owner.

"In case?" queried Naruto, who had eaten his fish already. Sakura was thinking the same thing, nibbling her own food; the Uchiha didn't seem to care what was going on, and then when Natsuki strapped her meds container onto her arm he said he was going to get some water.

After he left, Natsuki didn't sit, feeling the presence of someone untrustworthy grow nearer. She wondered if, in the state she was in, she should have let Sasuke go. Natsuki was perfectly aware of how scrawny and unreliable Sakura was, and that Naruto was still recovering from before, and that neither of them, no matter what condition they were in, would be able to face _him_. It would be only her, and even then the young girl wasn't positive she could manage wounding him enough to slow him down; not without using _that_. No, she mentally shook her head, remembering that she vowed never to use it again unless she was willing to die afterward.

_And I can't go about killing in front of them, they'll get suspicious. It was risk enough to fight those Sound ninja,_Natsuki told herself. Then, flicking her attention to rustling bushes, and then someone appearing at Naruto's side, his hand over the scroll the blond was holding. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, without his guard up, the young kunoichi noticed.

The fair-haired boy was indication to Naruto and Sakura, whose eyes were fixed on Kabuto. Natsuki hadn't noticed what they were doing, too absorbed in her own thought and worry, and she admonished herself quickly because of that. Not far from there Sasuke saw who he also considered an enemy, for the most part, that is. And it was for different reasons than those of Natsuki's, but still, he didn't trust Kabuto. Natsuki felt intensely for a trace of any aggressive chakra boiling inside of the considered enemy, but felt none whatsoever. She still didn't let herself be at ease though.

"What are you doing out here alone, anyway?" asked Sasuke after scolding Naruto and Sakura. He stood with his hands in his pockets, shifting most of his weight on one leg. Natsuki was completely ignored.

"Don't worry, I'm not trying to steal your scroll; I already have two of my own," he replied, almost seeming arrogant. Sasuke went on and challenged Kabuto for his scroll, seeing this as his last chance.

Natsuki protested before anyone else could, even before Naruto. "No, you won't fight. If this boy wants to kill you, he will." Her tone was hard and not that of a concerned teammate. His dark brows knotted and his teeth were gritted.

*-*

Everyone shook with weariness, and after walking as long as they did, who wouldn't be? With Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura, Natsuki followed Kabuto suggestion to ambush those that were in need of the Heaven or Earth scroll, like them. However, it hadn't been going as well as they had all thought, but it only began after Naruto hit that gigantic centipede with his kunai and pinned its purple-blue body on the tall tree.

"Seems like we've already arrived at our welcoming party," pointed Kabuto coolly, shocked the other rookies. Natsuki took turn to explain.

Hands in cloak pockets and shifting most of her weight on her right leg, she clarified to the surprised and confused Genin, "That centipede… was the trigger to a Genjutsu. They're in the trees, hiding, and waiting."

"What?!" exclaimed Sakura and Naruto in unison. Then, just Sakura, "Do you mean you knew all this time?" She asked because of the way Natsuki had stated it, so calmly, as if she always knew. Natsuki didn't respond, though she wasn't given time to anyway, as the enemy began crawling out of the very place the more experienced ninja told them.

There were a lot of them, and their body-types were that of adolescents, and they wore skin-tight outfits, appearing abnormally flexible. Naruto quickly ran past one of them and drove his fist into his abdomen after figuring out they were all only clones. But when the clone's broken body grew into another clone, doubling them, Sasuke stepped in and activated his Sharingan. The mark he'd received from Orochimaru began spreading, just a little, and his body involuntarily froze and left him open to any of the opponents' attacks. Kabuto darted and pulled him away hastily. He elucidated what they were doing, what type of enemy they were facing.

Not much later, Natsuki breathed heavily, collapsing onto the ground. She pressed her small hand over her heart, feeling it nearly bursting out of its wall. The sun would be rising soon, but she could continue fighting no more. Naruto ran over and defeated a clone approaching Natsuki's back. She barely turned her head towards the blond, but he continued fighting on anyway. Sakura sauntered at a fast pace from the place she'd been watching over to her squad member, placing a hand on Natsuki's shoulder. "Hey, are you okay? Can't you heal yourself?" She'd recalled Natsuki healing Sasuke in the Land of Waves. The girl shook her head. "What's wrong---?"

_Swish!_

The enemy's clones weren't there anymore, and were placed in their stead the real guys behind the show. Similar to the replicas, the adversaries wore some kind of masks and tight clothing, though theirs were a tad looser and heavier looking, and lighter in color. It turned out Naruto had distracted them with his Shadow Clones and made more clones of Sakura, Kabuto, and the other two members of the assemblage.

*-*

Now at the tower, mid-afternoon, the preliminary matches began. There were an odd number of people, so Natsuki was placed against someone who had already fought for her match, the last of them all. Her name flashed yellow on the large, rectangular computer, along with Dosu Kinuta the Sound Nin. Her hearing was better than most, excluding Kiba's, which surpassed hers probably ten-fold, so it was less than powerful but better than that of the average human being's.

"So," said Dosu in his gruff, deep tone across from Natsuki, "I face yet another weakling in this preliminary match." He seemed smug, and to Natsuki, that meant he would have to be put into his place. Though, she had to admit, she was a little tired. The sleep she'd gotten was little, and it was only when she was weakened. That was not real slumber, and for the first time in five days she'd napped up against the grey wall on the loft-typed place where everyone waited for their turn to make brawl, or observed other fighters after theirs had gone by.

"You're underestimating me, Sound Nin," she uttered softly, somewhat on the fierce side. The proctor coughed out a short "begin" and the girl wasted no time awaiting the first attack. She'd been half-awake during his fight, knew the short of his abilities, and couldn't let him make the first move. Quickly she pulled from the holder latched onto her arm a needle with some sort of bubbling, blue-green fluid inside it. She pulled her arm back and chucked it at her opponent, however, his deadly reverberation reached her first, and he was able to dodge her weapon.

She cupped her ears, features growing tight, and pulled together in a tight grimace of anguish. "Urrgh-rnggh!" she groaned loudly, kneeling down, and then, a sudden grin then allowing change her whole appearance.

"You didn't really think you could get me, did you? If so, that's just plain pathetic," she admonished. "You see, although my ears are especially perky, I have more than faintly accurate chakra control. So I sent three percent of my chakra to my ears, that way it would end up blocking my ear drum (canal)." She got to her feet, not flailing in the least.

Kakashi thought, _to have that much chakra control… and to be only a Genin…!_He was astonished, as were the majority of the people there. Shinobi leaned forward in anticipation, wondering what this girl was going to pull next. However, her right hand began to go up, like she was going to withdraw!

_Chink!_ _Clink! _Fell two metal senbon onto the ground from her sleeve. "I'll attack your ears as you did mine," she explained to Dosu mildly. She wasted no energy, no chakra; perhaps she was even better than Neji! Only, she didn't work quite as fast. But, she was an efficient ninja, most of them could see. Naruto was rotting with jealousy, almost even more so than Sakura, or even Ino.

Just when the audience began to form the notion that Natsuki was going to find some way to injure his ears internally as he tried to hers, they easily found out she was going to hurt them on the outside. The girl pulled out more senbon seconds after the others fell, swiftly willing them into her opponent's direction. The first ones were for the distraction, which worked brilliantly, for _everyone_ had paid heed to the dropped needles while the real ones became deadly.

Now Dosu knew pain. He shrieked, cried in pain. His bandaged hand was covered in the pouring blood. Natsuki could smell the awful stench. Five had directly hit mark, slicing the (outside part of his ear) and (the inside part of his ear). He was lucky she spared him the grief of becoming deaf, though he had probably deafened many unjustly, or justly. Though, she wondered, _was_ he really that lucky? Ears are nasty wounds to get healed; she knew from experience.

Hayate stepped in, arm outstretched. "Dosu Kinuta is no longer able---" he was interrupted by the short adolescent that slouched unhealthily.

"I can go on," he said forcefully, making himself forget about the throbbing pain which his ears felt. "I'll win this match, little girl, have no doubts about that."

Natsuki half-turned in a way that wasn't haughty, but in that of a more fed-up way. She was getting tired of the guy's antics. Couldn't he just accept that he was going to lose? What were his motives, when his other two team mates were taken out of the Exams? She chose not to further question, and to bring Dosu to his knees.

"Fine," she signed, frustrated, needing to sleep under normal conditions. Her neck was stiff, she was hot. No, maybe that's her feeling feverish? She hoped not; now wasn't the time to fall ill.

While she unconsciously rubbed her temples, eyes closed, Dosu thought he had her. He tapped his arm brace and sent a sonic wave her way, confident that she hadn't sent any chakra to her ears to block out his attack. Her face flew up abruptly, eyes wide. The sound had reached her.

Like before, she was contorting in ache, only it was real throbbing this time. With the distracting effect the reverberation had on her mind, she couldn't concentrate enough to use her chakra like before, and was in a real quandary. None of the ninja in the stands could predict the next movement, didn't know whether to doubt Natsuki or to believe she could beat a guy three years her senior, who seemed to have a more blatant amount of experience, while she was sloppy and amateur looking.

"One more vibration and you lose, little girl. What do you have to say?" Dosu fixed his thick finger over his silver plate, ready for his last attack, haughtily.

When Natsuki revealed her face, as she'd ducked her head downward so that a shadow would cover it, you wouldn't have been able to tell how much agony she felt while the sound still quiver in her head. It was completely blank of expressions. "I want…" she began slowly through clenched teeth, "I want you to die, you evil person!" What very well could have been a millisecond later was the most crucial of the entire match. Two needles lodged in Dosu's throat had barely missed his critical areas. That accuracy was no mistake, just like with his teammate Zaku. Natsuki was truly a young genius when her heart burned enough for her, concluded some of the spectators in the awed crowd.

The bigger shinobi's head flew backward, throat making strangled gurgling noises. If a medic saw to him immediately, he would live, which was Natsuki's full intent from the start. No one wanted to see her kill, not the way _she_ did it. She would never kill again.

Naruto and Sakura leapt down to congratulate Natsuki on her unexpected triumph, watching Dosu being carried away on a creamy colored stretcher, a bit of the un-dried blood dropping on the grey tiled floor. By now the edge of the previous battles had ended, but still hang in the air and caused some tension between a few of the people that hadn't been put in medical care.

Naruto gabbing a hundred words a minute and Sakura trying to shut him up, Natsuki felt no compassion toward the two, or at least, she tried not to. That was when the coughing began, more chronic than ever. Blood spewed out; she put her fist against her heart that raced miles too fast. "Oh no!" exclaimed Sakura, taking Natsuki's shoulder and helping her balance so that she wouldn't fall on her face. "H-hey, we need a medic!"

The final thing Natsuki saw before she was carried away was that arrogant look she caught reflecting off of Neji's face. She'd not dozed during the bout between he and that girl, Hinata Hyuuga, and she hated him for what he did. Even though she had no emotional connection to the timid girl or otherwise, she had to feel a little toward her, who was almost _murdered_ by her callous cousin.

Consciousness past by, and she felt the slow numbing of her mind until there was no longer light.

* * *

**A/N: I'm terribly sorry for my inactivity on for the past few months, but because my internet has been too crazy to work with (we switched companies, took forever) I couldn't update any of my stories. However, I have been using Word, so I have a fresh page now.**

**Also, I typed this and the next chapter without a reference of events, so some of them may have been out of order. Please bare with that for me, and I'll probably fix them later if I feel like it. Thank you!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five:**

Natsuki wasn't in the hospital for more than a day, had slept for more than half the time she was there, though. She still didn't feel any more refreshed than before, however, but checked out nonetheless. The nurse that attended her had some objections, but Natsuki silenced them immediately, protesting calmly that she would be fine if she could get into her own bed. Besides, the hospital's medicine wasn't going to help her hold up for long, so she would have to get back to the inn she was still taking residence at and make her own. At that, she couldn't leave her dog alone much longer. Tomodachi must've been lonely with the company she'd left him in, and was sorry she hadn't seen her in so long (seven to eight days).

Now inside the inn built of dark wood, Natsuki lay in bed, cuddling with Tomodachi. She'd bought the ingredients needed to grind together her life-sustaining remedy and to a shot of it. It would take a few more until she felt to be back to normal, as normal as she could get, that is, but for the moment she was content.

The lap dog licked her nose, and she tried to smile softly. Her rare show of happiness was still that rare, as her smile turned out to be upside-down. She frowned even more at that, but snuggled in closer to the furry animal. "Oh, Tomo, why do I feel like something bad is going to happen soon?" she whispered in its ear sadly. "I'm afraid…" The pet whimpered like it could relate to its master, but Natsuki knew it was impossible.

*-*

The following thirty days were filled with nothing but simple bareness. Kakashi assigned Naruto a trainer named Ebisu while he trained with Sasuke somewhere secluded the entire time, though Naruto ditched Ebisu soon after his instructing from the tall, black-clothed man had begun. Also, the silver-grey headed teacher told Natsuki to get some training in as well, since she'd advanced to the Third Exam too. She didn't waste time pondering over the reason why he hadn't picked a mentor for her like he'd done with the two boys, for she didn't care. But, she didn't work hard at the training grounds, either. She was confident in herself, hanging over the idea that as long as she wasn't overcome by fatigue, she would have no problem against any of the other contestants.

That is, except for maybe that Gaara of the Sand and his siblings. No, Temari and Kankuro she could beat for sure, though it might be a little troublesome. Gaara wasn't a sure thing, but Neji could be defeated with no problem. She would enjoy beating him to a pulp, similar to the way he'd done to the cousin he had, whose name she ended up forgetting in a day. Naruto was definitely a sure thing, no matter how adamant a person he was; likewise for the lazy and laid back Shikamaru. Sasuke would take some trouble, but he wasn't a match for Natsuki in the long run. She only knew the quick of Shino's abilities, but he was only a Genin from the village of Konoha. How hard could this be?

She wasn't nervous. Or excited.

Today was the final stage of the Chunnin Exams. She slipped a dark blue, short sleeved shirt with a square neck and fishnets to fill that three inch void, just below her collar bone. And then a pair of khaki shorts, a navy holster secured about her thigh, and then her long jacket buttoned from collar bone down to waist. Natsuki knelt down and patted Tomodachi on the top of the head, fairing an adieu after filling the creature's food and water bowls.

Her battle was against Shikamaru, the last fight of the first round. Sasuke was running late, and the matches had to be pushed forward to allow wait for the Uchiha. She thought she would be next up, as the boy was still not there, but just then Sasuke appeared almost out of nowhere. He was sporting longer hair and a new outfit, a black one piece suit that _did not_ flatter him at all.

Natsuki sighed with some form of relief, knowing Shikamaru was also, as his chakra still hadn't regenerated completely yet; she was not quite ready to go against someone who had just beaten a Sand Nin. That Temari wasn't a weakling; she was a strong strategist, in fact. But her thought was that, if a mere Genin could beat her, and then maybe he had a chance. Shikamaru was lazy, but he did try after all, even though he renounced his victory after his clear win.

In this match, it didn't matter who won or lost, only what a ninja's abilities could do exactly; that is, aside from the fact that she cared not whether she was named Chunnin or not this time around.

The spar had barely begun when Natsuki sensed a Genjutsu and quickly used a Releasing jutsu before it took over her. Illuminated white feathers were falling all around the stadium, putting every person in the stands asleep. She ducked down behind the safety bars where she stood alone, searching for the Genjutsu caster.

She shut her eyes tightly, heart racing, pondering over what was happening. Sasuke was going after Gaara, whose chakra was wild. Sakura had just released Naruto from the sleep inducing jutsu and was making her way over to Shikamaru. Kakashi and Guy were fighting off many attackers, and further away was the Third Hokage fighting against someone she could tell was very strong, but also very weak in more than a few ways.

_Think_, she told herself, _think of what to do. Where should I go? After Sasuke alone, or with Sakura and Naruto?_ She shook her head fiercely, heartbroken, and admonished herself. _I don't fit in anywhere! Where am I needed most? There...? _Her mind flicked to the image of the leaving Sakura, Shikamaru, dog Pakkun, and Naruto. Then, she found the mental direction alternating toward Sasuke, and then bug-boy Shino. She couldn't face off with that pale man named Orochimaru with Third Hokage; Natsuki wouldn't stand a chance, it was all too obvious. She weakened by the day, and by now… by now there was no hope for her to physically quarrel with anyone that had such a powerful aura of chakra leaking from their pores.

_I'll go… I'll go…! I'll follow Sasuke, and do what I can that way_, she decided unsurely. _Maybe I'll survive._

With one swift move Natsuki was out of the round arena and made way to her destination. She didn't allow Sasuke to know she was playing chase, and kept fifteen yards away from Shino, the other pursuer of the dark headed fellow.

Soon she halted, feeling the stopping of both Shino and Sasuke. And then there was another person, who had meant to delay the Sharingan-user. She sped ahead, going out of her way to stay away from the Abarame clan member, and sojourned on a thick tree branch, hiding behind the thicker trunk roughly twenty feet high.

_Now what? I was shadowing him, but now that he's stopped, will I fight?_ Natsuki questioned her conscience for an answer that would suffice with no problems.

Temari had stayed behind to fight him. Okay, she could do that. Natsuki would be able to fend her off. But, if she did, then Sasuke would proceed toward Gaara, where she feared the most for him. The girl couldn't let him die now, not while she was still searching for inkling as to where her father was, who he was. Sasuke was the only one she knew of that could possibly help, as she'd established earlier before, and she wouldn't let that go until she no longer needed him.

No sooner did she come to a decision did Sasuke make it meaningless. He'd been reciprocating Temari's attacks and she was defeated. Chiding herself would be no better than her finishing off the flaxen haired adolescent, and so Natsuki found herself continuing after the Uchiha in a daze. What was wrong with her? Why didn't her brain process correctly?

*-*

"Stay down, you dummy!" screamed Natsuki. Sasuke was trying to get up after clearly being weakened by Gaara's blows and having used Chidori more than his limit allowed. He was being stubborn, wouldn't listen to what she had to say, and she was glad when Naruto and co. arrived.

Natsuki held her arms in a defensive position in front of her face, keeping all attention on the maniacal enemy on the branch before her as she said to Sakura and Naruto, "Make sure Sasuke doesn't get up; if he tries, then I'll kill him myself!" Of course, it was a bluff, however the shocked faces of Genin surrounding her, and even Pakkun the dog, showed they weren't aware of that.

Sakura nodded her understanding and rushed over to the incapacitated Uchiha lying on his belly, Naruto yelling his gameness for fighting and how he would show Sasuke up. Meanwhile, Pakkun was ditching them, claiming he wasn't really that much of a fighter.

"Na-ru-to _Uzumaki_ _Barrage_!" shouted the blond ninja, shadow clones identical to him spouting from above the other Jinchuriki. Natsuki stood on reserve, waiting for her chance to deliver a near-killer blow and observing every move made by the fervent One-tails. When the opening came, she would snatch it and beat the heck out of that Gaara!

Gaara was spurred on the ground, bloody head, and Naruto lying on his stomach almost ten feet away. Natsuki had passed out long before that.

*-*

Natsuki had been asleep for a day and a half, and when she finally did awaken it was early, and Sakura was at her bedside with a glum expression. "What is it? Why are you here?" the junior inquired slowly, throat dry. Sakura handed her a glass of lukewarm water.

"When I came to visit Sasuke," she started, unsure, "I overheard some of the medics talking in front of your door. It was only a few things, but…" The pink-headed kunoichi turned her head, fidgeting.

"Spit it out," commanded Natsuki, not sounding at all bossy; she held the now half-empty, clear glass cup encircled by her small hands in her blanketed lap.

Almost impulsively, the Haruno shouted with furrowed brows, staring directly into the opposing girl. "You're sick, aren't you Natsuki? And that's not all, you're blind, too!" Natsuki had to admit, her words surfaced in an accusing way, but she remained calm, in-taking a large breath. She wasn't ready to explain, but the determined Sakura would have her way.

"I have always been plagued with some sort of illness that has no cure," she explicated. "I know my body better than anyone, so I began mixing chemicals and other things that made my internal organs react. If those doctors couldn't, then why would I, a child, be capable of doing it? I had drive. Also, I wanted to live just a little longer, to exact a certain goal of mine.

However, the serum I've developed doesn't fight all of the bad cells in my body until they're gone. Only a specific amount of time it works, so I have to take it frequently. My insides are in turmoil, rotting away by the day, the hour… the minute. Actually, I'm positive I'll die before I can meet _him_, but I accepted that a little while ago. It's okay if I d---"

"No!" shrieked Sakura, shocking and bewildering her teammate. She stood on her feet, tense, and maybe even angry. Natsuki had never heard of Sakura acting like this; the female Genin seemed to genuinely care about her current comrade. Natsuki didn't know what to say.

Suddenly she was glad that she shared a room with Sasuke, because he interrupted the conversation.

He voiced darkly as his body moved forward, "Shut up."

Natsuki's head flicked over to stare at him, ready to give him a major tongue-lashing for being so rude. However, Sakura seemed to sense this and gave a nervous laugh, saying, "Ha-ha-huh, Sasuke, you're awake! A-are you hungry? How about an apple? I'll go to the store and buy some. You want one too, don't you, Natsuki?" She turned her eyes to her, and Natsuki nodded slowly, clenching her jaw. A moment ago, Sakura had showed her kindness of some sort, and she would return the thought; this time, anyway.

Eager to get out of the tension filled room, Sakura walked around Natsuki's bed, which was closer to the door while Sasuke's was at the window, and she slid open the door. Giving a grieving look to Natsuki, not that she could see it, she slid it shut behind her and headed to the market for fruit and some sweets.

She thought she would come back to an eased hospital scope, but instead she was greeted by a Natsuki she'd never seen before. She was standing outside of her room, looking about apprehensively. "Ah, Sakura!" she exclaimed. "Sakura, Sasuke and N-Naruto, they went up to the roof. They're--- they're going to fight!"

Sakura dropped her bag beside her, eyes wide. This couldn't be good. She was aware of how much stronger Naruto had gotten, and Sasuke--- Sasuke started out strong, only to get stronger and stronger! Taking a step that broke into a run within moments, she went up to the staid place, as fast as she could. She could already feel the salty tears brimming in her green eyes.

*-*

"Kakashi," whispered Natsuki, "and Master Jiraiya. Tell me… why did you...?" She gulped, wondering how this question would affect their outlook on her. Jiraiya had never met her, and he probably was in a very suspicious mood, as it was right after Kakashi had pulled apart Sasuke and Naruto before they hit Sakura in between them. While she couldn't risk the suspicion, Natsuki knew this was important. "Why did you allow those two off without any punishment? Clearly they are going to clash again, and next time, I doubt you'll be there to protect them and anyone else caught in between."

Jiraiya's eyebrows furrowed and Kakashi said coolly, "If you're that concerned about your teammates, Natsuki, then you should talk to them. I can't punish them for fighting, even if it could turn out badly one day."

Anger coiled in the girl's heart, and she held herself back from screaming her opinion. She was still ill, though, and her small body wouldn't be able to take the excessive turmoil she placed upon it. Instead she leisurely made her way to the door that lead to the stairs so she could go back to bed. Sakura reluctantly followed her, and when they were half-way there, queried, "What did you say to Kakashi-sensei?"

"Nothing," she uttered harshly, causing the adolescent to stop. She could tell it wasn't her business, or at least that that was what Natsuki thought.

She opened her mouth, aware of the dangerous ground she stood on, but chose nonetheless to ignore it until it finally took her. "You said something important, and I want to know what it was." Sakura thinned her lips so she wouldn't shudder with fright. Natsuki really _did_ put some fear in her.

The answer Sakura expected to hear was never presented, and all courage she summoned to stand up against the precarious Natsuki had decapitated. Natsuki sped away from her sight, and didn't go back to her bed.

She was gone.

*-*

Natsuki hadn't showed up until later that night, when she caught Sasuke leaving. He'd already had a run-in with Sakura, and then meeting up with _another_ girl irked him. There were too many stoppages, and he began to wonder if they were set to keep him from leaving.

_No, _he shook his head inwardly, _that's impossible. My fate was decided a long time ago_.

"Uchiha Sasuke," muttered Natsuki in a haughty tone, "making his silent escape in the debt of night. How strange, though. I bet myself you might stay in this aghast village another month. Oh well, even _I _can be wrong."

"You can't stop me. I've already made up my mind," he retorted; back to her, a good three and a half yards ahead, Sasuke readied himself for an attack from the diminutive kunoichi who he knew was exceptionally strong to some extent.

She frowned, and tone changed to a smooth, eerie one. "I haven't come to bar you, so don't worry."

"Then why are you here?" Sasuke was getting impatient.

"In the beginning, I was looking for someone. Do you remember?" Natsuki didn't pause to allow him to answer the rhetorical query. "All I wanted you to know is that I know who he is, and I'm going to find him soon."

"And what does this have to do with me?" sneered the Uchiha.

"Just… be careful with the choices you make," she cautioned, and then Sasuke heard a faint swishing noise. Turning, he saw in the dim glow of the moon that she'd left. What a weird little girl, he couldn't help but muse before taking off as well, ruminating over her eccentric ways.

**And thus ends, Itachi's Daughter**

* * *

A/N: So, this is the last chapter of Itachi's Daughter, but Part 2, taking place in Shippuden, will be put up tomorrow. Thank you!


End file.
